A decision about if and when a byelection may be held to fill the eighth seat on Thompson’s city council – which was declared vacant when two candidates tied with the same amount of votes and then again declared a tie following a judicial recount - will not likely take place at least until mid-February, by which point a civil court motion by one of those candidates may have been resolved.
A courtroom at the Thompson provincial building took on the air of City Hall’s council chambers or an all-candidates forum Jan. 14, with councillors Duncan Wong and Judy Kolada, former councillor Ron Matechuk and 2018 municipal election candidates Malanie Cutler and Andre Proulx in attendance, along with Thompson city manager Anthony McInnis and senior election official Dave Turpie.
The matter they were interested in was an application by Chong – who tied with Proulx for the eight spot on council with 1,008 votes – for a determination of entitlement to a seat on city council and a declaration of entitlement to that seat.
The application is being opposed by the city.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Chris Martin granted a request by Chong’s lawyer Gerhard Randel and the City of Thompson’s lawyer to adjourn the matter until Feb. 11, after affidavits and briefs have been filed. The application will not necessarily be heard or decided that day, and it may be Justice Herbert Rempel, who conducted the judicial recount of the Oct. 24 election results, who will decide the matter.
“In the best of all worlds, it should be Justice Rempel,” Martin said.
It is possible the matter may be decided then, however.
“If everybody is ready and can be accommodated we can see about getting that done,” said Martin.
If it isn’t heard on that date, any potential byelection will likely be further delayed.
“We’ve been working with the province to prepare for a byelection, but we’re holding off in light of the challenge that has come forward,” said City of Thompson communications officer Kacper Antoszewski on Jan. 11.
The judicial recount was required after both Proulx and Chong objected to the rejection of one ballot in the municipal election because of an ambiguous mark in the mayoral section. The rejection of that ballot was overturned prior to the recount but another ballot that had been accepted in the original tally was rejected, the City of Thompson said in a Nov. 30 press release.
If Chong’s application to determine that he is entitled to the eighth seat on council is unsuccessful, a byelection to fill it will have to be held, according to the Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Act, which says that if two or more candidates for the same office can not be declared elected because each has received the same number of votes, the senior election official must declare the office vacant and hold a byelection to fill it, except when a judicial recount is applied for.
If that byelection proves necessary, any qualified candidate – a Canadian citizen at least 18 years old who has been a Thompson resident or owned property in the city for at least six months as of the election date – could run for that vacant council seat.
